By Martin Cleary Different approach. Same result. For the fourth time in the past five years and the sixth occasion since 2013, the Gloucester Celtic have captured the Ontario Cup men’s soccer championship and will strive for their fourth Challenge Trophy at the Canadian men’s championship Oct. 8-13 in St. John’s, NL. After relying on a high-powered offence in its 2024 run to national and provincial titles, the Celtic concentrated on defence for this season, but went on offence at the right opportunities. Was Gloucester’s general manager-coach Matt Williams confident his players could repeat their exquisite 2024 effort this year? “Yes and no,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday before starting his fundraising campaign to secure between $25,000 and $30,000 to cover the team costs for a week in St. John’s. “We lost our three top scorers from last year … due to injuries. We thought it would be tougher to score, but we picked up two to three centre-midfielders,” Williams explained. “I knew we wouldn’t score as much, but it was going to be hard for the other teams to beat us. I’m never assured we’ll win, but I go in confident that we should win. “Last year, we were run-and-gun. This year, we’re not letting them score and then see what happens.” The Celtic put a golden frame around their two-month Ontario Cup men’s tournament by defeating Woodbridge 2-0 on Sunday with a pair of second-half goals. In its five provincial cup games, Gloucester didn’t allow a single goal, while managing to score 23 on offence, including 11 in the opening decision over Atletico Sporting Toronto. The run to the final also included a 3-0 win over Aurora Hearts in the round of 16, a 5-0 verdict over Olimpia Toronto in the quarterfinals and a 2-0 decision over AIFC Orangeville in the semifinals. Gloucester previously won the Ontario Cup in 2024, 2022, 2021, 2016 and 2013. Advancing to represent Ontario at the Canadian men’s championship, the Celtic were gold medallists in 2024, 2022 and 2013, after posting shutout victories in each final game. An Ottawa team has won the past six Ontario Cup titles, including West Ottawa Warriors in 2023 and Ottawa St. Anthony’s in 2019. St. Anthony’s also hoisted the trophy in 2006 as did the Ottawa Royals in 2004. In the 2025 Ontario Cup final, Marco Natoli broke a 0-0 deadlock in the 69th minute, when he struck a powerful shot from the top of the box to give the Celtic a 1-0 advantage. Devyn Viegas added the insurance goal in the 83rd minute by converting a rebound off a ball from a deep corner. “We have played Woodbridge a few times and they have a really good indoor futsal team. We played them indoors and they smashed us. But we (previously) met them in the (outdoor) quarterfinals and beat them,” Williams continued. “On Sunday, we stuck to our game plan of playing all of our players and we outworked them.” The Celtic, who also are coached by Phil Sangster and Loui Lagakis, are known for getting every player into every game. The players accept the decisions of the coaches as to when they play and when they come off the field. Earlier this season, the Celtic won their eighth Ottawa Cup in the past 14 championships – 2025, 2024, 2022, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2013 and 2012. In its three games, Gloucester turned back Ottawa Eagles 5-1 in the quarterfinals, Ottawa Impact 2-0 in the semifinals and Ottawa TFC in the final. No score was available for the final. The Celtic have won the Ottawa-Carleton Soccer League title with three games remaining between Thursday and Sept. 18. In its first 13 games, Gloucester has a dozen wins and one loss, which was an early-season 2-1 defeat to Ottawa Impact.
GRATEFUL GABRIELA DABROWSKI WINS SECOND U.S. OPEN DOUBLES TITLE
Third-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Gloucester and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand stormed to their second U.S. Open women’s doubles tennis title in three years with a 6-4, 6-4 decision over Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States. It was Dabrowski’s fourth Grand Slam championship in her career, which also is highlighted by a pair of mixed doubles titles. While Dabrowski and Routliffe had four straight-set victories at the U.S. Open, there also were two tense three-set wins – 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Timea Babos of Hungary and Luisa Stefani of Brazil in the quarterfinals and 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 over Ingrid Martins of Brazil and Quinn Gleason of the United States in round two. “I feel extremely grateful to be standing here as a champion alongside you (Erin) today,” said Dabrowski, who was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in the spring of 2024. “It means the world. Thank you for the support. “Those who are here and those who are still at home watching, we love you so much. To the tournament, thank you for always making this event better every single year for the players. “Thank you for your partnership with the players. We really appreciate it. We hope to continue working together in the future to make this tournament and to make tennis the best sport in the world. We think it is, and without your support, it wouldn’t be possible.”WORLD BRONZE MEDAL FOR OTTAWA RIVER CANOE CLUB’S KEVIN TOBIN
Kevin Tobin of Ottawa made his debut at the world marathon canoe championships a truly memorable experience. About a week after helping the Ottawa River Canoe Club win its first-ever PaddleAll category burgee during the Canadian sprint canoe championships, Tobin travelled to Gyor, Hungary and won a medal in his only long-distance race. Tobin earned the bronze medal in the Special Olympic/intellectually-impaired category during the men’s K1 paracanoe 10-kilometre race in 55 minutes, 17.17 seconds. He also was fifth overall in the race. He qualified for the Canadian team to the world marathon championships with a strong performance in the K-1 5,000 metres at the national team trials earlier this season. Ottawa Valley real estate agent Stephanie Mols, whose son Daniel is autistic, sponsored Tobin’s trip to the worlds.NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE TEAMS RECOGNIZE OTTAWA TALENT
The National Lacrosse League staged its annual draft and nine players from Ottawa were selected by seven teams. The Ottawa Black Bears used two of their picks to select Liam Aston of Ottawa in the second round and 33rd overall as well as Ottawa’s Max Skene in the sixth round and 81st overall. Aston played this season with the Toronto Beaches junior A team, while Skene played for Rochester Institute of Technology. Nolan Byrne of Greely and Connor Nock of Osgoode were first-round selections at No. 8 and No. 10 respectively by the Georgia Swarm and the Colorado Mammoth. Byrne represented the Whitby Warriors junior A team and Lafayette College, while Nock competed for Owen Sound North Stars and Quincy University. Saskatchewan Rush boosted their roster by calling the names of Ottawa’s Julien Belair of Whitby and Mathius Houlahan of the Nepean Knights junior B team. Belair went in the second round at No. 22 and Houlahan was taken in the fourth round at No. 60. The draft also included Ottawa’s Isiah Moran-Weekes heading to Toronto Rock, from Owen Sound North Stars, third round, No. 35; Ottawa’s Payton Tasse to Halifax Thunderbirds, from Coburg Kodiaks and Newberry College, fifth round, No. 73; and Cornwall’s Kaleb Malyon to Philadelphia Wings from Snake Island senior B, Newberry College and Ottawa Capitals, sixth round, No. 81. The Ottawa Black Bears also made a trade with the Albany FireWolves. The Black Bears received Sam Firth of Ottawa, Tanner Thompson and Nicholas Volkov in exchange for Taggart Clark and an Ottawa third-round pick in the 2026 NLL Draft.CANADA PLAYS AUSTRALIA IN WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP QUARTERS
After winning all three games in its preliminary pool by scoring 147 points and only allowing 26, Canada will face Australia in Saturday’s quarterfinals at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England. Canada won its third and final pool match 40-19 over Scotland. University of Ottawa Gee-Gees grad Claire Gallagher, who played the final 20 minutes against Wales making one tackle and four passes, did not dress for the game with Scotland.JONATHAN DAVID SCORES IN RARE CANADIAN MEN’S WIN IN EUROPE
Ottawa’s Jonathan David connected for the game-winning goal as Canada shut out Romania 3-0 in Bucharest for its first men’s soccer victory in Europe in 14 years. David, who plays for Juventus in Italy’s Serie A, directed a well-placed free kick by Ali Ahmed for his record-extending 37th career goal for Canada.6 LOCAL WATER POLO PLAYERS HIT 15U PAN AMERICAN PODIUMS
Four Capital Wave players celebrated silver medals with the Canadian women’s team at the 15U Pan American Water Polo Championships in Brazil. Aline Borowiec, Gillian Corkum, Noami Jones and Fiona Jowsey lost their first two games of the tournament 10-9 to USA and 12-8 to Brazil, but rebounded to win three straight over Argentina (19-7), Mexico (28-2) and Brazil (15-14 in the semi-final) to reach the gold medal final, which was won by USA 14-8. Corkum scored two goals in the championship game. Dragos Matei Pirusca of the Ottawa Titans scored a hat trick in the Canadian men’s team’s 9-7 bronze medal match win over Argentina, while the Wave’s Stanley Fraser Anderson was also part of the team.CARA MACDONALD EARNS NATIONAL U23 WOMEN’S TRIATHLON BRONZE
Ottawa’s Cara Macdonald finished third among U23 women at the 2025 Canadian Triathlon Championships on Saturday in Montreal. The Glebe Collegiate Institute grad was in the lead pack after both the swim and bike segments before ultimately finishing sixth overall in a time of 59 minutes, 31 seconds – 1:25 back of the 58:07 winning time. Also in Montreal earlier this summer, Macdonald was 17th in an Americas Cup race. At the Triathlon Ontario Provincial Championships a week earlier in Welland, Bytown Storm Triathlon Club products Haileigh Chenier and Miguel Alvarez both earned bronze medals in the women’s and men’s elite/U23 races. The Storm’s Sidney Stewart also finished on the provincial podium in third and was second overall in the season’s Ontario Youth Cup (age 14-15) women’s standings.END NOTES
· West Carleton Electric players Bryce Rebertz and Colton Lecuyer and Quyon Flyers’ Cade Kuehl have been selected by Softball Canada to the national men’s U18 roster for the world championship in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. · Besides running relays for Canada at the upcoming World Athletics championships in Tokyo, Eliezer Adjibi of C.A.N.I. Athletics will be entered in the men’s 100 metres and Ottawa’s Jacqueline Madogo of the Royal City Athletics Club will compete in the women’s 200 metres. · Ottawa’s Craig Stefureak, a teaching pro at The Bunker, joined forces with Kevin Stinson, Yohann Benson and Mitchell Fox to win the Four Nations Cup at The Pulpit in Caledon, ON. Canada defeated teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Stefureak, winner of the 103rd PGA Canada title this season, won four of a possible six points. · Curling has returned and world champion Rachel Homan and her Ottawa Curling Club rink will start its 2025-26 season Wednesday at the AMJ Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall. Their potential 12-event calendar also includes the Canadian Olympic curling trials Nov. 22-30 in Halifax and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian championship Jan. 23 to Feb. 1 in Mississauga. If the Homan rink qualifies, it will represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics Feb. 6-22 and the world championships March 14-22 in Calgary. Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” for the Citizen/Sun. When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca. Martin can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and on Twitter @martincleary.Related
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